Formula One needs to choose between quality and quantity in 2015

Esteban Ocon of France participated in the post-season test at Yas Marina Circuit, but it is anyone's guess whether Lotus or any of the other financially struggling teams will be on the grid when the season kicks off in 2015. Dan Istitene / Getty ImagesShow less

As the last cars pulled into pit lane on Wednesday at Yas Marina Circuit, the post-season test in Abu Dhabi came to the an end and the final action of the 2014 Formula One season, at least on the track, was over.

It has been a paradoxical season in which the Mercedes-GP team dominated to such an extent that they broke the record for most victories in one year, with 16, yet still offered one of the most compelling fights for the drivers’ championship in recent years.

Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg took their duel all the way to the final round at the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix before the Briton prevailed.

But as F1 settles into its winter break, before it returns with pre-season testing in February ahead of the opening round of the 2015 season in Australia on March 15, it faces one of the most potentially defining periods in the sport’s history.

F1 must decide what it wants its identity to be, and whether quality or quantity is the most important factor in terms of grid size.

The push to cut costs will be at the centre of talks of organizational talks over the winter, with Marussia having been lost during the season and Caterham’s future in major financial doubt.

At present, the sport’s best-case scenario for the 2015 grid is 20 cars, with Caterham in some form, depending on finding a new buyer.

If Caterham do not survive, F1 is faced with 18 cars. With Sauber, Force India and Lotus all concerned about the high costs of sponsoring teams, which increased this year after the introduction of the 1.6-litre V6 turbo engines, the tally could get even lower in the not-too-distant future.

Eric Boullier, the McLaren team principal, believes having teams struggling to compete competitively and financially on the grid does not bring value to the sport.

As his team logged track time yesterday at Yas Marina Circuit, enduring major teething problems as they began their partnership with new engine supplier Honda, Boullier said: “I think Formula One, especially Formula One, you have teams struggling and cars not working because they are not safe. Do you think you [the public] would like it? I don’t think so.”

Among the suggestions for getting more cars on the grid is for the bigger teams to supply customer cars, a modified version of one of their cars, to new or current teams struggling financially. But Boullier believes that would be going against the grain of what makes F1 attractive.

“I understand the concern of the promoter of the series, because, yes, you want to have a number of cars, obviously,” he said. “But for me, the DNA of F1 is for every weekend to compete on the track, but compete off the track, with new parts on the car and design.”

How determined F1 chiefs are to keep grid numbers up will be fascinating to watch over the winter as FIA, motorsport’s ruling body, tries to bring cost-cutting measures to table again, while F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone is scheduled to have further talks with Sauber, Lotus and Force India on the amount of prize money they receive.

There has been talk and rumour of three-car line-ups in F1, with teams such as Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes adding an additional car to fill out the grid numbers.

The inherent danger with that plan is that, if a team such as Mercedes again dominates, then two cars romping away at the front becomes three cars, and the podium becomes a one-team affair.

Since 1950, F1 has got through each season with at least 10 teams on the grid, but now, for the first time, there is a real possibility of the sport’s identity, and how its grid is shaped, being changed.

F1, from Ecclestone to the teams, must find some sort of compass. Is F1 destined to be an elite sport for a few deep-pocketed teams, or a grid packed with different constructors?

How this winter shakes out should tell us a lot about the organisation’s direction.

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